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Assistant Administrator for Contracting & Procurement

Department of Homeland Security
Transportation Security Administration
Enterprise Support / Contracting & Procurement
This job announcement has closed

Summary

Securing Travel, Protecting People - At the Transportation Security Administration, we serve in a high-stakes environment to safeguard the American way of life. In cities across the country, we secure airports, seaports, railroads, highways, and public transit systems, thus protecting our transportation infrastructure and ensuring freedom of movement for people and commerce.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
03/19/2024 to 04/02/2024
Salary
$163,651 to - $221,900 per year
Pay scale & grade
SW 1
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Springfield, VA
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
Occasional travel - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
Yes—You may qualify for reimbursement of relocation expenses in accordance with agency policy.
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
Yes
Security clearance
Sensitive Compartmented Information
Drug test
Yes
Position sensitivity and risk
Special-Sensitive (SS)/High Risk
Announcement number
HQ-ES-C&P-24-472284-ERD
Control number
782484800

This job is open to

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Clarification from the agency

Open to Current/Former Federal employees, SES Reinstatement Eligibles or OPM Approved SES Candidate Development Program (CDP) Graduates. This position is in the Transportation Security Executive Service (TSES) and is located in Springfield, Virginia. The application process used to recruit for this position is RESUME-BASED. Please refer to the Qualifications/How You Will be Evaluated section of this announcement for further information concerning resume requirements.

Duties

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The Assistant Administrator (AA) for Contracting and Procurement (C&P) is the senior acquisition management official and the Head of the Contracting Activity in TSA. As such, the AA provides executive leadership and senior technical expertise for TSA, on matters involving procurements and other transaction agreements. The responsibilities of the position have an agency-wide impact and influence, which includes providing innovative and expert leadership in the establishment and implementation of comprehensive procurement strategies and implementation schedules, in accordance with applicable policies, procedures, laws, and directives.

Duties include:

  • Managing, directing, and evaluating programs involving the acquisition of supplies services, real-estate, construction, or research and development by utilizing formal advertising or negotiation procedures.
  • Providing innovative thinking to accelerate contracts and ensure the best value for the Agency to support TSA mission, goals, and objectives.
  • Serving as the agency Competitive Advocate, approving all sole source procurements greater than $13M and/or awarding on the basis of unusual and compelling urgency.
  • Approving the award of all Time and Materials, Incentive Fee, or Labor Hour contracts as well as the award of single award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contracts and Blanket Purchase Agreements greater than $5M in value.
  • Providing acquisition planning, business strategy solicitation, business clearance approvals, and ensuring compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) including: small business laws, contract awards and modifications, cost/price based acquisition negotiation, source selection, claims review, analysis and avoidance and disputes resolution, simplified acquisition, contract administration, and if necessary, termination of assigned contracts for all assigned program and procurements.
  • Providing leadership and oversight in the management of post-award contract administration, contract reporting, contract closeout, contract files maintenance, electronic acquisition systems, claims adjudication, disposition of defective pricing actions, and participation in litigation activities.
  • Overseeing the overall direction of process standardization for the entire acquisition lifecycle, to include processes related to Program Management, Logistics, and Test & Evaluation.
  • Serving as the Executive sponsor for the Procurement Strategy Board, Solicitation Review Board and Acquisition Policy Board. As a member of the TSA Senior Leadership Team, participates on Executive Steering Committees.
  • Providing day-to-day operational and management oversight and direction to subordinate managers in the execution of their respective and combined professional and technical functions, which includes acquisition and procurement management within the Office, as well as throughout the various organizational units within TSA.
  • Acting as the sole liaison with the DHS Chief of Procurement Officer on all matters related to contracts and procurement, policy, legislation, workforce.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  1. You must possess U.S. Citizenship.
  2. You must complete a favorable Tier 5 Background Investigation (T5).
  3. You must pass Drug Screening, subject to random drug tests.
  4. This position requires a TS/SCI (Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information) clearance that must be completed prior to appointment. You will be subject to a 5-year periodic investigation and must be able to obtain and maintain a TS/SCI clearance.
  5. Disclosure of your financial information is required.
  6. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in the wake of 9/11 to strengthen the security of the nation's transportation systems while ensuring the freedom of movement for people and commerce. TSA employs a risk-based strategy to secure U.S. transportation systems, with nearly 50,000 Transportation Security Officers, each day at more than 450 airports nationwide. The agency continuously sets the standard for excellence in transportation security through its people, processes, technologies and use of intelligence to drive operations. As a member of the TSES, you may be subject to frequent changes in posts of duty and positions. Mobility is a condition of employment, so you must be prepared to accept, without objection, the judgment of your superiors concerning reassignments for operational and/or career development purposes, or for other reasons determined to be in the best interest of the Transportation Security Administration.
Resumes must include the following:
  1. Narrative description of duties with start and end dates (including the month and year) for work experience.
  2. State the number of hours worked in a position (i.e. full-time or part-time). If part-time, state the total number of hours worked per week.
  3. Performance level (i.e. band or grade)
Utilizing the USAJOBS Resume Builder and completing all available fields is strongly encouraged.

If you fail to meet the conditions of employment or any other pre-employment requirements, such as missing any of the scheduled appointments, the hiring agency may rescind their tentative offer of employment.

You must meet the qualification requirements of this position no later than the closing date of the job opportunity announcement.

Qualifications

As a basic requirement, applicants must demonstrate progressively responsible leadership experience that is indicative of senior executive level managerial capability and directly related to the skills and abilities outlined under the Professional/Technical Qualifications and Executive Core Qualifications listed below. Typically, experience of this nature will have been gained at or above the equivalent of the GS-15 grade level in the Federal service or its equivalent with state and local government, the private sector, or non-governmental organizations.

To meet the minimum qualification requirements for this position, you must show in your resume that you possess the five Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) and the Professional/Technical Qualifications (PTQs) listed below. We recommend that your resume emphasize your level of responsibilities, the scope and complexity of programs managed, and your program accomplishments, including results of your actions. Please refer to the Office of Personnel Management's website, https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/senior-executive-service/reference-materials/guidetosesquals_2012.pdf for additional information about ECQs.

You must have completed all mandatory training required for Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C_ Level III OR the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) Level III for Contracting. You will be expected to achieve full certification within 12 months. These certifications require a minimum of four (4) years' experience in contracting or related positions. Details are available at https://www.fai.gov/drupal/certification/contracting-fac-c and
https://dap.dau.mil/career/cont/Pages/Certification3.aspx.

To be considered for this position, you must include a separate narrative describing how you meet all elements of the qualification and education requirements listed above in your application package along with your resume documenting how you possess the PTQs and ECQs. Candidates who are invited to interview for this position must be prepared to provide documentation (i.e., training records and transcripts) to support claims made in this qualifications narrative. Waivers of minor deviations from the training requirements for certification may be considered by the agency senior acquisitions executive at that time, however, such waivers are the exception rather than the rule.

The application process used to recruit for this position is RESUME-ONLY. Therefore, evidence of each ECQ and PTQ must be CLEARLY REFLECTED in your resume.

If you are a current or reinstatement eligible Career SES/TSES member or a graduate of an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approved SES Candidate Development Program (CDP) and your ECQs have been previously certified by OPM's Qualifications Review Board, you are not required to address the ECQs. However, you MUST address all PTQs in your resume.

Professional/Technical Qualifications (PTQs):

1. Demonstrated experience in approving large procurement and developing standards/processes for the entire acquisitions lifecycle.

2. Demonstrated experience in innovative thinking and knowledge of Federal acquisition laws and regulations to specific acquisitions to achieve the desired outcome of supporting the mission at the best value for the government.

3. Demonstrated experience in communicating and resolving complex and controversial issues, including the development of acquisition plans/schedules and contracting strategies, with both internal customers and external stakeholders such as members of Congress.

4. Demonstrated experience in implementing engagement strategies, leading a workforce to accomplish procurement priorities and ensuring the workforce obtains necessary training and experience to develop into well-rounded acquisition professionals.

Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs):

ECQ 1 - LEADING CHANGE.
This core qualification involves the ability to bring about strategic change, both within and outside the organization, to meet organizational goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to establish an organizational vision and to implement it in a continuously changing environment.

ECQ 2 - LEADING PEOPLE. This core qualification involves the ability to lead people toward meeting the organization's vision, mission, and goals. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to provide an inclusive workplace that fosters the development of others, facilitates cooperation and teamwork, and supports constructive resolution of conflicts.

ECQ 3 - RESULTS DRIVEN. This core qualification involves the ability to meet organizational goals and customer expectations. Inherent to this ECQ is the ability to make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.

ECQ 4 - BUSINESS ACUMEN. This core qualification involves the ability to manage human, financial, and information resources strategically.

ECQ 5 - BUILDING COALITIONS. This core qualification involves the ability to build coalitions internally and with other Federal agencies, state and local governments, nonprofit and private sector organizations, foreign governments, or international organizations to achieve common goals.

FAILURE TO MEET OR FULLY ADDRESS EACH EXECUTIVE CORE QUALIFICATION AND PROFESSIONAL/TECHNICAL QUALIFICATIONS IN THE RESUME WILL ELIMINATE A CANDIDATE FROM FURTHER CONSIDERATION.

CURRENT OR FORMER POLITICAL APPOINTEES: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Education

You must possess a baccalaureate degree from an accredited educational institution and completion of 24 semester hours (or 36 quarter hours) in any of the following business-related subjects: accounting, business, finance, law, contracts, purchasing, economics, industrial management, marketing, quantitative methods, and/or organization and management. (Credit for education completed outside the United States must be certified by a private organization that specialized in interpretation of foreign educational credentials as equivalent to that gained in conventional U.S. education programs.)

Additional information

  • The TSA, an excepted service agency, was established by Public Law 107-71, ATSA, on November 19, 2001. ATSA provides TSA with the authority to modify and develop its own human capital program, provided such modifications are consistent with 49 USC 40122.
  • This is an excepted service position. However, there is an interchange agreement with the OPM and TSA that enables Career TSES members who have been approved by the Qualifications Review Board at OPM to qualify for Senior Executive Service (SES) positions without additional competition.
  • You will be required to serve a probationary period of one year unless you previously completed the probationary period in a SES/TSES position.
  • When you enter on duty, you will be required to complete a Public Financial Disclosure Report, OGE Form 278. You will need to provide this information annually.
  • Veteran's Preference does NOT apply to SES/TSES positions.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be evaluated on the quality and extent to which your resume shows that you possess the Professional/Technical Qualifications (PTQs) and Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) outlined in the "Qualifications" section of the Job Opportunity Announcement. Your resume may be evaluated by an SES/TSES rating and ranking panel, and afterwards, best qualified candidates may undergo an interview and a reference check. The TSA Executive Resources Council (ERC) will review results and make recommendations on final selections to the appointing authority. Only the selectee will be required to write Executive Core Qualifications (ECQs) narratives.

Unless you have already been certified by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Qualifications Review Board (QRB) in the past, your ECQs must be certified by the QRB before appointment can occur.

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